One Armed Snowmobile Guide Can Ride Circles Around You

Joe “Lefty” Martinez is a professional snowmobile guide up near the Grand Teton National Park which must be a fantastic job to have. That area is considered to be some fo the best snow and area to ride in throughout the entire country. But Joe isn’t your everyday guide either, he only has one arm. Back in 1995, he had his left arm amputated which would prevent most people from even attempting to ride again, especially a snowmobile where weight distribution and the occasional “man-handle” of the sled is required. But Joe isn’t “most people”.

Not only did he get back on the sled, but he has thrived ever since and according to most people that have ridden with him will attest that he can still ride circles around most people. From what I can see the only modification he needed to add to his Polaris PRO RMK800 is a brake lever on the right handlebar so he can modulate the brake and throttle with just one hand. So not only is he able to have enough throttle control to go out boondocking in the trees, but somehow manages to hang on when that powerful 800cc Polaris engine screams to life.

I could not find a picture of Lefty riding, but this is very similar to the sled he rides.Photo: thrillion

If you ask me that says a great deal about the rideability of the Polaris Axys chassis. Surely you’ve heard the saying ” so easy a one armed man could do it (or ride it)” and talk about the perfect example of that. Now granted, most of the credit goes to “Lefty” and his riding skills because I’m sure he would be able to hold his own on any sled he was riding. But I’d be willing to bet that at the end of the day he would have a much easier time on the Polaris. It’s just so “flickable” which means it doesn’t require a whole lot of input to get it moving in the desired direction. The first time I threw my leg over one of the new PRO RMK’s I was literally dumbfounded as to how easy it was, and I’ve been riding over 20 years. Check out this short three-part video released by the Polaris Youtube channel that shows you not only how amazing the new sleds are, but the incredibly inspirational story of “Lefty” Martinez.

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